According to the classification
system of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations
(FAO) in 1977, China's soil can be divided into twenty-two types:

1.

Alluvial soil: Formed
by the modern alluvia of rivers, this soil is found over extensive
areas, mostly in the North China Plain.

2.

Gley: Constantly saturated
with underground or surface waters and therefore with distinctive
features of gleization, gley is a kind of clay present in both the
north and the south~

3.

Skeleton soil: Formed
in the initial stage of pedogenesis with skeletonization as its main
feature, this soil is widespread in the various climatic zones throughout
the country.

4.

Stony soil: This type
of soil is found in steep mountains, mostly in mountain regions in
the northwest arid areas.

5.

Rendzina: This is a soil
found chiefly in limestone areas in the south.

6.

Shallow soil: Formed
from stony soil, shallow soil is found mainly in the mountains on
the southeast rim of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, in the upper parts
of the mountains in the northwest arid areas and some of the igneous-rock
mountains in the south.

7.

Vertisol: Widespread
in the Huaibei Plain, this kind of soil is composed of lime concretion
(sajong soil) of different shapes commonly found in the soil sections
of perennially high underground water level

8.

Solonchak: With a soluble
saline content in the earth's surface larger than 0.6-2 percent, solonchak
is found mainly in the northwest arid areas and the waterlogged lowlands
in the eastern seaboard regions.

9.

Desert soil: Desert soil
is widespread in the northwest arid regions, with very weak accumulation
of organic matter.

10.

Arid soil: This soil is
found extensively in the transition areas between arid and .semiarid
zones.

11.

Chestnut soil: This is
the most important soil in the temperate steppe regions.

12.

Chernozem: This high-fertility
soil is found mostly in temperate forest grasslands.

13.

Black earth: A humus-rich
and plant-nutrition-rich dark-coloured soil, black earth is found
only in the meadow grassland regions in the northeast.

14.

Podzol: Podzol is formed
under the forests of the temperate forest grasslands.

15.

Inceptisol: Formed generally
in the early stage of soil formation, inceptisoloccurs over vast areas
in the humid and semihumid regions.

16.

Eluvial soil: This type
of soil is usually formed under the temperate mixed coniferous and
broadleaf forests.

17.

Podzolized eluvial soil:
This soil is formed mainly under coniferous forests in cold and moist
surroundings.

18.

Claypan soil: Claypan
is found over vast areas in the eastern humid regions.